Culture

South African-born photographer John Thackwray has come up with a project to show how the lives of the same generation people from around the world differ because of the place they were born in.

He’s spent more than 6 years documenting the bedrooms of over one thousand of the millennial generation people (born in the 80s and 90s) from 55 countries. The result is a photo series John calls My Room Project, which aims to capture and compare the different values, points of view and aspirations of a single generation.

The photographer also interviews the participants to get their opinions about various topics including lifestyle, local issues, education, religion, love, and many more. All of which you’ll be able to find in his book that’s already available for pre-order on his website.

#1 Manyatta, Kenya, Ezekiel, 22-Year-Old Warrior

My tiny ass apartment

I start the day waking up in my tiny ass apartment. It’s paid for by the school and is about the size of three average Americans. It’s about 70% trash right now since I haven’t cleaned it since the goddamn Stone Age.

UK-based Internet medical service Superdrug Online Doctor commissioned graphic designers from 19 countries around the world to Photoshop a man to “make him more attractive” to people in their country. The project was inspired by Esther Honig’s 2014 Photoshop series, in which graphic designers retouched a woman’s body based on their country’s beauty standards.

Bride In Gora Region Between Kosovo And Macedonia

The Gorani people are Muslims by faith, but their traditions and customs contain various pagan elements. The bride is carried on a white horse covered with a scarf and a specially decorated umbrella during wedding festivities, and she accompanies her family to the neighbour’s house of her husband-to-be.

1. Mainland China: Do not buy traditional Chinese silk clothes and from a shop also sells wreath. (no matter how beautiful they are) Those clothes are for dead people, and that shop is a shroud shop. You have no idea how horrifying to see a foreigner wearing them and walking down the street.

2. Vietnam – commit to crossing the road. I know it looks scary due to the endless scooter stampede but if you just cross at a steady pace, they’ll avoid you. Do not try to dodge or make sudden movements, you will get your ass hit and there will be no sympathy.

3. In Malaysia, it is absolutely normal for someone to ask you what race you are. It’s not meant to be offensive, just general curiousity.

4. Finland: Do not go too near anyone. Our personal space is huge.

5. When going to a friend’s house and the family offers you have dinner with them, it is impolite to say no. Also, they would insist that you stay over in case you’ve had too much a lambanog and will give you the next best mattress they have. Before you leave, accept the leftover they give should you be hungry on your way back home.

Filipino hospitality at its essence.

6. In America, if you rent a bike, you should be aware that even if the bike lane is painted onto the street in a rainbow pattern with flashing neon lights, nobody gives a shit. You are not safe in the bike lane.

How do you get to school each day? Perhaps your parents drive you, you walk a few blocks on solid concrete, or you take the air conditioned bus with leather seats and 100% protection against the elements. These are the normal means of transportation to school that make your life so much easier but are often taken for granted.

School is important all over the world, including areas where paved roads and public transportation do not exist. Children living in rural or poverty-ridden areas face a much more treacherous trek to school each morning, but somehow these inspirational kids get up the courage and strength to make the trip day after day.

What if it took you 5 hours to travel to school each way, would you be willing to make the trip? Children in Gula, China do it. And they are not the only students around the world willing to face a few risks in order to reap the rewards of an education.

Here we detail 20 of the most dangerous and unusual journeys students must take in order to make it to class on time.

Lebak, Indonesia

Children walk, or rather climb, across a damaged suspension bridge to get to school.

Mihaela Noroc of Romania decided to travel the world (on the cheap) and create an Atlas of Beauty to see how beauty looks around the world. Her photo series shows a wide variety of beautiful women in their environment and clothing of choice. The result is more impressive and beautiful than any Miss Universe pageant.

“Global trends make us look and behave the same, but we are all beautiful because we are different.” she writes on Bored Panda. “In the end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder is always somebody else. My goal is to continue and take photos of women from each country of the globe, making ‘The Atlas Of Beauty’ a mirror of our diverse societies and an inspiration for people that try to remain authentic.”

And there’s the point: following fashion trends isn’t a must for beauty and dressing to reflect your culture isn’t a sin. In a sense, it’s about remaining true to your cultural roots and not sacrificing everything to the cold and uncaring fashion gods of Paris or New York.